"Zayton" <zayton at bellsouth.net> wrote in message news:QA9b9.87002$%v4.4668409 at e3500-atl2.usenetserver.com...
"John Knight" <jwknight at polbox.com> wrote in message news:zM8b9.17796$Ic7.1541913 at news2.west.cox.net...
"
There were Edomites living in Judaea
*Produce just one citation from the Bible to show that these are Edomites.
who claimed to be descendants of Abraham (but NOT Israelites),
*Of course they were Israelites.
and Christ told them that they were actually descendants of the devil, who was a liar and the father of it. It's impossible for them to have been Semites or Hebrews if they weren't descendants of Abraham,
*But they were descendants of Abraham. Jesus had already acknowledged this before he also called them children of the Devil.
John 8:37: "I know that you are descendants of Abraham,...."
and the notion that they could have been Israelites is even more remote.
*Children of Abraham=Jews=Israelites=Hebrews.
Christ told them they were NOT "children of Abraham". He told them that their "father" and His "father" were NOT the same. He told them that He was one of the "children of Abraham", but they were not. He told them the reason they seek to kill Him is that they were the "children of the devil".
Christ agreed ONLY that they were the "seed" of Abraham, and "seed" means something entirely different than what you evidently think it means:
Joh 8:37 I know that ye are Abraham's seed: yet ye seek to kill me, because my word hath not free course in you.
Joh 8:38 I speak the things which I have seen with my Father: and ye also do the things which ye heard from your father.
Joh 8:39 They answered and said unto him, Our father is Abraham. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham.
The word "seed" is translated from the Greek word "sperma", which means "remnant"
G4690
???????
sperma
sper'-mah
From G4687; somethng sown, that is, seed (including the male "sperm"); by implication offspring; specifically a remnant (figuratively as if kept over for planting): - issue, seed.
Remnant
REM'NANT, n. [contracted from remanent. See Remain.]
1. Residue; that which is left after the separation, removal or destruction of a part.
2. That which remains after a part is done, performed, told or passed.
The remnant of my tale is of a length to tire your patience.
Where I may think the remnant of my thoughts.
REM'NANT, a. Remaining; yet left.
And quiet dedicate her remnant life to the just duties of a humble wife. [Little used.]
"The remnants of my thoughts". "The remnants of Abraham". If they were the "remnants" but not the "children" [read: descendants] of Abraham, then it's obvious that Christ considered their genetic link to Abraham to be so weak that He didn't even consider them to be Abraham's descendants.
This wasn't JUST a state of mind He was referring to. This was a state of mind brought about by their genetic ancestry. Christ pointed out that their ancestor was "the devil", so obviously Christ has a different ancestry than these jews.
For making that observation, and other unpopular observations, these jews demanded that Christ be crucified.
John Knight
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://iubio.bio.indiana.edu/bionet/mm/neur-sci/attachments/20020830/880408fd/attachment.html